A new patch is now being applied to Diablo III, to update Blizzard's action/RPG sequel to version 1.0.2.9749 with some fixes with the update Blizzard promised before they begin implementing balance changes. The game may remain offline for another hour or more as part of the patching process. Here are the oddly organized patch notes:Diablo III Patch 1.0.2 - v.1.0.2.9749

Classes

Monk

Active Skills

Serenity

Skill Rune - Tranquility

Duration of immunity granted to nearby allies from crowd control effects reduced from 2 seconds to 1 second

Bug Fixes
For a full list of documented game and service bugs, please review the Known Issues sticky located in the Bug Report forum.

General

Players should no longer receive an "Error 14009" when logging in

The "Select a Hero" menu will now also display the difficulty level for each character

Several speed improvements have been made to the streaming downloader

Achievements

All players in a party should now receive "Till Death Do Us Part" even if they donít have Haedrig Eamon as their active follower

Acts

Act IV

Witch Doctors should no longer receive an error if they kill a Shadow Clone with a Damage-Over-Time (DoT) skill after it's launched a Firebomb but before it's reached its target

Auction House

The auction log in the Completed tab will now display a player's activity (bids, buyouts, sales, etc) in the proper order

When placing a new bid over a previous bid on the same auction, players will now be provided with the correct warning message: "Raising your maximum bid on an Auction you are already winning raises your current bid to just above your previous maximum bid. Are you sure you want to continue?"

Players will now receive an error message if they attempt to purchase an item after the 50 item limit has been reached in the Completed tab

The "Physical Damage" Preferred Stats option for rings has been renamed to "Bonus Minimum Physical Damage"

The "All Damage" Preferred Stats option for weapons and armor has been removed and replaced with bonuses of specific damage types

Items which have been purchased from a vendor and equipped by the player can now be sold on the Auction House

Listing items on the Auction House from a different character than the one currently selected should no longer cause item display issues

Battle.net

The public chat list will now sort alphabetically

Classes

Witch Doctor

Spirit Vessel (Passive) no longer clears debuffs when using waypoints or changing equipment

Some people don't have smartphones still. Their FAQ seems to address those concerns (and google confirms them about the algorithm), some friends use it without issues. I just use a physical authenticator personally but there is nothing wrong with something like this as long as you use a known secure version. If the author didn't make the source available then that would be a red flag.

Heck, the truly paranoid can create a custom firewall rule to block the exe from accessing the internet and never have to worry about it. Takes about 10 seconds using the builtin Windows firewall even. There's a very very remote possibility someone can take control of your machine entirely through the use of RDP software to view the app output but at that point you'd have way bigger problems than your battle.net account IMO.

This game is bad effin news as it is now. I've played diablo 3 with 5 friends that live nearby who are new to Battle.net and 2 now have had their characters stripped and needed a "rollback"

Blizzard absolutely should be providing these "authenticator" dealies in the box with the game, because it's sure as hell the only way a person can have even semi-confidence in the security on Battle.Net. The place is a cess-pit of hackers and World of Warcraft lifer "Blizzard defense squad" Bobby Kotick knob-slobbers.

They are issuing refunds to people who are not satisfied with the game within 30 days though. I just don't know that I care to exert the energy required to give 2 fucks about anything going on with this game now..

Though I *did* uncover this little gem of an application for windows users that basically allows you to use the mobile authenticator app's functionality on a windows PC:

It's legit and works well, and for those of us that dont give a shit about smartphones or shelling out $7 more to Blizzard/Activision after paying $65 for the game, just so we can have any semblance of security on *their* service.

†††††††††"What do I want? I don't really know. Most of the time I ignore my quest and walk into the homes of others, riffling through people's shelves... oooh, like those over there!"

InBlack wrote on May 31, 2012, 07:29:Hang on a sec, saying that your brothers PC was compromised (which is consistent in 99% of all hacking cases) is pure speculation but accepting that Blizzard fubared security and allowed a hacker who played with your brother in a random open game to bypass their secuirty entirely is somehow less speculative??

You're misframing my argument. Blizzard has failed to implement basic security procedures that likely would have prevented such an exploit, like requiring email access for new logins or adding additional security questions to logins from a new location. My point about compromised accounts and public games was that many people have raised a connection and - as previously stated - there was no evidence that my brother's system was compromised and he was using one of the highest regarded anti-virus / anti-malware programs available. And the link I posted demonstrated that many hacks are NOT compromised PCs but other exploits and that Blizzard likes to just palm the issue off as being the user's system.

Again, people shouldn't need a PhD in computer security to expect to play a video game without having their account hacked. Blaming the victim is immature and counterproductive. Nobody is talking about how ridiculous it is that a video game can be so heavily targeted and need such different precautions to every other video game. People would rather blame somebody else that accept that more could be done for security. If nin wants to keep acting like a child that's fine but it's pretty boring.

Nah I used the cube equivalent in beta, it was just to break down crafting components in the field before they decided they liked people visiting the town. I don't recall there ever being a proper one that actually combined things but maybe I missed it somewhere as I quit and rejoined in several beta phases after it got boring.

I think in general they inadvertently dumbed down the game while trying to streamline things. It's apparent in many aspects of the game - more linear map designs, cutscene based segments to beat the story into your head, less complexity in the loot tables and so on. I suspect the expansion will make a lot of drastic changes and we'll start to see things from D2 reappear in some form.

Verno wrote on May 31, 2012, 09:34:Gonna talk about the game for a minute instead of picking on some random internet dudes little brother.

I was thinking about the game a bit last night and their rationale for not wanting attributes in this one, it just doesn't add up.

Removal of customizable attributes has made no difference whatsoever, in fact I'd argue its a backwards step even. Skills are based almost entirely on weapon damage and the only other way to add to your DPS is through your main stat. Main stat is weighted too heavily, you get crazy dual benefits from it so it's almost never advisable to seek out gear that lacks it. The only other desirable stats are intellect for resists (though its much better to get resists from item modifiers) and vitality which tapers off in effectiveness in Inferno.

They should have gone with a better hybrid system, a Witch Doctor might not want dexterity now but maybe he would if it also did IAS or MF. Strength might also up physical resist in a meaningful way and so on. I think even calling this system streamlined is being too generous, it just seems a bit dumb.

You think any of that has to do with the removal of some components of the game right before release? ie: the equivilant to the horadric cube?

Gonna talk about the game for a minute instead of picking on some random internet dudes little brother.

I was thinking about the game a bit last night and their rationale for not wanting attributes in this one, it just doesn't add up.

Removal of customizable attributes has made no difference whatsoever, in fact I'd argue its a backwards step even. Skills are based almost entirely on weapon damage and the only other way to add to your DPS is through your main stat. Main stat is weighted too heavily, you get crazy dual benefits from it so it's almost never advisable to seek out gear that lacks it. The only other desirable stats are intellect for resists (though its much better to get resists from item modifiers) and vitality which tapers off in effectiveness in Inferno.

They should have gone with a better hybrid system, a Witch Doctor might not want dexterity now but maybe he would if it also did IAS or MF. Strength might also up physical resist in a meaningful way and so on. I think even calling this system streamlined is being too generous, it just seems a bit dumb.

theyarecomingforyou wrote on May 30, 2012, 20:58:There's a write-up on Ars about hacking. Notice how Blizzard blamed it all on keyloggers and viruses despite there being no evidence this was actually the case. And when he asked them to look into they said they couldn't. More interestingly Blizzard seems to be unable to track some logins, so they're sitting on a security nightmare. There are plenty of cases where accounts are hacked remotely without compromising a computer, as was suggested here. Not that anyone here will accept they could be wrong or acknowledge that their accusations were pure speculation.

If Blizzard simply uniquely identified every item and could track them all then this wouldn't be an issue but allowing players to drop items for others is just asking for trouble.

Hang on a sec, saying that your brothers PC was compromised (which is consistent in 99% of all hacking cases) is pure speculation but accepting that Blizzard fubared security and allowed a hacker who played with your brother in a random open game to bypass their secuirty entirely is somehow less speculative??

And whats wrong with having an ability to trade items with my friends? Whats next, demands for bind on pickup items????

theyarecomingforyou wrote on May 30, 2012, 20:58:There's a write-up on Ars about hacking. Notice how Blizzard blamed it all on keyloggers and viruses despite there being no evidence this was actually the case. And when he asked them to look into they said they couldn't. More interestingly Blizzard seems to be unable to track some logins, so they're sitting on a security nightmare. There are plenty of cases where accounts are hacked remotely without compromising a computer, as was suggested here. Not that anyone here will accept they could be wrong or acknowledge that their accusations were pure speculation.

If Blizzard simply uniquely identified every item and could track them all then this wouldn't be an issue but allowing players to drop items for others is just asking for trouble.

Hang on a sec, saying that your brothers PC was compromised (which is consistent in 99% of all hacking cases) is pure speculation but accepting that Blizzard fubared security and allowed a hacker who played with your brother in a random open game to bypass their secuirty entirely is somehow less speculative??

And whats wrong with having an ability to trade items with my friends? Whats next, demands for bind on pickup items????

theyarecomingforyou wrote on May 30, 2012, 20:58:If Blizzard simply uniquely identified every item and could track them all then this wouldn't be an issue but allowing players to drop items for others is just asking for trouble.

You know, I would say this wasn't practical/possible with millions of users each having potentially hundreds if not thousands of items. However, given that IPv6 works... that type of tracking at least would seem to be within the realm of possible. Justifiable in cost and effort? Maybe not. But certainly within current technologies.

There's a write-up on Ars about hacking. Notice how Blizzard blamed it all on keyloggers and viruses despite there being no evidence this was actually the case. And when he asked them to look into they said they couldn't. More interestingly Blizzard seems to be unable to track some logins, so they're sitting on a security nightmare. There are plenty of cases where accounts are hacked remotely without compromising a computer, as was suggested here. Not that anyone here will accept they could be wrong or acknowledge that their accusations were pure speculation.

If Blizzard simply uniquely identified every item and could track them all then this wouldn't be an issue but allowing players to drop items for others is just asking for trouble.

HorrorScope wrote on May 30, 2012, 12:47:How are you with all subjects you don't do for a living? Obviously we all need to be experts on all fields. If the standard of using a PC is to be an expert in security, then PC is doomed!

Listen buddy, let's get something straight here. I am not fixing your pipes, you had time to learn a trade and didn't even try. You made no effort to maintain your plumbing system, ignorance is no defense so now you're just going to have take responsibility for your actions and commit seppuku.

Back in my day we hiked barefoot, uphill through our firewalls and reset our routers with our bare hands, The American Way

theyarecomingforyou wrote on May 30, 2012, 13:46:Police take credit card theft very seriously.

Not in Vacaville CA. They were very laid back, in fact it came across as "the industry has protections against it and it will be written off". Pretty much go through the motions to get them to pick up the tab (they did) and get new one's issued (they did). So in many regards they were right, no need to bother the popo, just contact the bank and sort through it. In Vacaville I can tell you they are much more concerned right now with speeders, seems like it's on Full Red-Alert.